What the growth number leaves out

A client relationship may be longstanding without its next contract being secured. I ask planning teams to distinguish contracted service revenue, renewal assumptions and prospective work, with the timing and dependencies of each made explicit. Finance owns the accounting treatment; my concern is how the strategic plan uses those different levels of certainty to justify commitments. Recruitment, facilities and service obligations cannot always be reversed at the pace a forecast changes. I want management to see which resources support existing work and which depend on an event still outside its control. A lower central case need not indicate reduced ambition. It can provide a more defensible basis for deciding what to commit now and what to prepare conditionally. The plan should also identify the evidence that would justify moving from one position to the other.

The strategic attraction of a service acquisition often depends on people whose knowledge is only partly documented. I ask what capability the transaction would bring, which individuals or teams currently provide it and what arrangements support its continuation. People, legal and operating specialists assess the actual terms and obligations. My role is to make their findings change the acquisition case when necessary, rather than leave the original narrative untouched beside a growing list of qualifications. A headcount total does not establish transferable skill, and an intention to negotiate later is not an agreed commitment. I compare the remaining proposition with alternatives such as internal development or a narrower partnership. The recommendation should account for time and execution risk on both sides, without treating organic development as automatically cheaper or safer.

Custom work can create value for a client and still consume more capacity than a broad fee category reveals. I examine the recurring effort, specialist review and maintenance associated with variants, then ask whether the commercial arrangement reflects that work. A sampled time study must be described as a sample, with its limits and seasonal effects understood. Operations determines how the work can be delivered; commercial colleagues discuss acceptable options with clients. Strategy helps compare the choices, including retaining bespoke work at an explicit price or accepting an orderly exit. I do not assume that standardisation is the correct answer for every relationship. The objective is to stop an incremental series of exceptions becoming an unexamined business model whose cost is hidden inside the effort of a few experienced people.

A strategy recommendation should explain what becomes harder to reverse after approval. That may be recruitment, a client promise, integration work or a dependence on a scarce skill. I work with the responsible functions to identify those commitments and the order in which they should be made. The resulting plan should have enough detail to support an executive decision without pretending to replace the operating team's implementation work. I also distinguish conditions that genuinely change the recommendation from routine actions that can be managed after approval. Too many conditions can conceal indecision; too few can make uncertainty disappear from the paper while it remains in the business. The useful balance is a clear choice, an honest account of its consequences and a defined point for returning to the decision if material assumptions change.